The Solution (2nd Edition)

Chon

After the applause that the room had given Xen and Lee, I'd moved my palm from my xiōngdi's back. It ended up on his shoulder. Then I'd squeezed at it, signifying that we needed to talk. Xen looked at me with furrowed brows, until I'd glanced my eyeballs sideways. He now knew that the talk would be a serious one. Respectfully, my next action was to acknowledge our maker. "Mùqīn, please, could you excuse us for a moment?"

     Without hesitation, our mother closed her eyes, smiled, and let go of her eldest son. "Of course, Chon. Naturally, I understand that there is always much for the Double Dragon to discuss."

    Xen and I smiled back.

    After I'd also excused myself from Sarah and Mikey over mind-message, Xen and I stepped out of the chamber. "Xiōngdi, I know The Contingency has your undivided attention, but there's something else I need you to think about."

    "What is it?" he asked quizzically. "What's going on?"

    "In all honesty, I'm not sure and hope you can shed some light. Xen, after we did the showcase, Mikey was fucking drugged and rendered unconscious. A Yakuza Clansman named Emo was the culprit, and it was obvious he'd been ordered to do so by O-Kenai, who just watched. Sarah and I were ushered out to the hovermobile that took us to her halfway house. Then ten minutes later, Mikey was dropped at my feet and brought around with another injection."

    "What the hell," Xen bawled. "Is he okay? What on earth did they do to him?"

    "Mikey says he's fine," I explained. "I don't know what transpired - neither does he - says he can't remember. But whatever did happen, went down out of sight. And all because O-Kenai's convinced that Mikey had something which belonged to her. Xen, you're a damn savant. What the fuck might the big guy have had that belonged to her?"

    My xiōngdi ran rakish fingers through his hair until holding onto the back of his skull. In the moment, he also pulled at his stressed face, which normally meant he was pining for a holorette - the infamous vape sticks which he'd used way back when on Boudoir's finest...

    Seconds later, Xen shook off the desperate expression, but still seemed perplexed. "...Chon, I really don't know. Fuck," he continued to seeth.

    "Well," I inhaled, "as always, I'll leave it with you to try and figure out."

    Xen nodded, then tapped at my arm, reassuringly. "I will. You have my word."

    Thereafter, I summoned Mikey and Sarah over mind-message, while Xen returned to the fold. After the international failure of The Solution; as well as the release of The Pink Lady's footage files; we'd have plenty to do at BTV. Meanwhile, Xen and the others had a contingency vote to organize and moderate.

    The timescale in which the Tripod Coalition gave us to vote for a second time, was actually very short. A mere seven days, in fact. And a week later my team and I had found ourselves back in Zhongnanhai and back in its central chamber.

     Behind me, stood Mikey and Sarah.

    At my sides, stood Xen and mùqīn.

    And in the rest of the human-made semi-circle, stood Lee, Stephen and Ling. Aurora and Olaf. Anho and Yan. Sam and James. Ji-Hye and Ji-Eun. As well as Cassius and someone I'd not seen in months, my cousin, Suki...